Paris To Launch Electric Car Sharing Program

After first launching in in 2008, then subsequently establishing operations in and, the car2go car-sharing program is now coming to Canada. As of this June, registered members of Vancouver, British Columbia's car2go group will be able to use any of the 225 purpose-designed Smart Fortwos in the local fleet, which can be picked up and dropped off at designated parking spots throughout the city.As is the case with the in Germany and the U.S., each of the petrol-powered Canadian cars has a solar panel built into its roof.

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Electricity generated by that panel allows the alternator to be decoupled while driving, which is said to reduce fuel consumption by as much as 10 percent. The panel also charges the battery, runs the fan while the car is parked in the sun, and powers an onboard telemetrics system. That system allows users to activate the car by entering their PIN on a dashboard touchscreen, and also keeps track of things such as location and distance traveled.

The first Canadian car2go car-sharing program is about to be launched in the city of VancouverMembers can reserve cars, or simply jump in any available vehicle as they need it – a smartphone app, telephone service or the local car2go website will direct them to the nearest one. When finished with the vehicle, they simply leave it at the closest permit-only or assigned car2go parking space. Charges are based on the amount of time that the car is driven, at a rate of 35 cents a minute, although hourly and daily rates work out to less.Vancouver is currently working towards a goal of becoming the world's greenest city by 2020, and the adoption of car2go is part of that initiative. Interested Vancouverites can pre-register for the service starting today, through the website.There are currently over 35,000 car2go members in Ulm and Austin, with another operation set to open in Amsterdam later this year.

I am curious as to why Mr. Mantion would assert that car2go is a government funded project. It is fairly easy to ascertain on its website that it is owned (and presumably funded by) Daimler, not any government.

In fact they offer free driving time to the government of Texas (in return for free parking spaces).One further finds that there were a total of 235,000 rentals in the first year in Germany, at an average fee of $15, from members including a third of registered drivers age 18 to 35 (and 10% of the entire population of Ulm). Failed project? What is the biggest constraint for cars in citys. Parking space. Instead of using a car once or twice a day and locking up parking in a city with private cars occupying spaces, this concept allows the same parking spaces to provide between 10x and 30x as much personal mobility within cities.What does it cost - from what I have seen, the cost to hire cars for typical short trips around the city can be covered by savings in parking fees. You could argue that the City is subsidising the service by for-going parking fees, but the City gets the advantage that the spaces allocated are then used far more effectively for the the mobility of its citizens.The enabling technology of smartphones and gps is the difference making this work where earlier car sharing schemes have had limited success and enlightened Cities will be competing in the near future to attract larger commercial car sharing programs that starting to emerge.

Car2Go is a huge hit here in Austin, Tx. I see these tiny white and blue Smart FourTwos EVERYWHERE around town, especially around UT Austin campus. This idea is perfect for college students and people who can't justify the expence of owning their own car. The only way it could be better is if there were more of them available, and if Car2Go was in more cities. Another great addition would be a bike rack on top so customers could ride their bikes to pick their cars up, and to get home if avalable parking is sparce.

I love the idea of them being EVs but the infrastructure just is not in place to implement an idea like that. If they were hybrids, that would be a good first step to the inevitable (yes inevitable) EV takeover of the auto market.

If people would do their research, they would find out that some of the first automobiles were battery electric anyway, so why not go back to the original idea?

Paris has announced plans to introduce an electric car sharing program called Autolib. The city is starting with a fleet of 3,000 cars available for rent coupled with up to 1,000 battery recharging stations throughout the French capital.The program will help many Parisians get rid of the cars they have while saving much of the estimated 7,000 euros ($9,200) that it costs an average owner to keep a car in the city, according to Paris' Deputy Mayor Annick Lepetit.' There are many people who absolutely need a car, and with Autolib, they'll have one,' said Lepetit. 'The advantage will be that it will be a lot cheaper and less of a hassle, because they'll be able to pick it up from one place and turn it in anywhere else in the city without looking for parking.'

The car sharing proposal follows changes to the city's transportation policies within the last 10 years that have ushered in a 25 percent drop in traffic in Paris. Those changes include improved public transportation options, heightened restrictions on cars and Velib, a bike sharing program that began in 2007.Same perks, same problems. Nearly half of the bikes in the Velib program have been damagedWhile officials like Lepetit hope that Autolib can duplicate some of the successes of the bike sharing program, a car sharing venture is also be open to some of the same criticisms.Nearly 8,000 of the 20,000 bikes involved in the Velib program were either stolen or severely vandalized, especially in the period following Velib's introduction.A car share program also introduces concerns that go beyond vandalism, said Bill Moore, publisher of EV World, an online magazine about electronic vehicles.'

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I think the last thing that anyone wants to see is these vehicles stalled along various Paris motorways or out in the suburbs and having to be towed to a place to get recharged,' he said.Nevertheless, Moore said he believes electric car technology is ready for prime time and believes the Autolib program could be a model for other cities, provided it avoids the big pitfalls.Parisians 'not civilized enough'Carol Levy is a mother living in Paris and shares Moore's attitude. She said people with children in Paris need to have cars and thinks the program is a good idea in theory, but that Parisians may pose a roadblock.' Keeping the Velib and Autolib materials in good shape seems to be a real problem,' Levy said.

'I just don't think Parisians are civilized enough to do so - or maybe we French just lack a civic sense.' The success of the program will depend partly on how it is administered and by whom. Currently, four bidders are vying to operate Autolib, which will be structured as a public-private partnership with the city of Paris.

They include Avis Car Rental and the French railway operator SNCF.City officials have said they have learned important lessons from Velib, and that Autolib system will be much harder to defraud or steal from. But supporters and skeptics agree that the program also depends on being embraced by everyone in society - including the disgruntled youths who have been known to burn cars.Author: Eleanor Beardsley (gsw)Editor: Sean Sinico.